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The Future of Legal Aid for Clinical Negligence - the Lords Enter the Debate at Last

Is common sense finally going to prevail? News of the House of Lords debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, in which 54 Peers spoke suggests it might.

Viscount Simon is reported as stating that “Taking clinical negligence out of the scope of legal aid will prevent vast numbers of people ever having their case properly investigated, because the vast majority of clinical negligence victims are harmed at the hands of a state body – the NHS – there is a strong moral argument that the state should ensure that these people have access to justice..”

Many other Peers entered the debate to lend their support. Lord Clinton-Davies was perhaps one of the most vocal who in a hard hitting address to the Lords stated “My hope is that these disgraceful endeavours will be frustrated. The House of Lords now has the chance to demonstrate that it prefers to protect the interests of ordinary people rather than the powerful.”